2008 Camps and Workshops
Teen Session: New England II
July 13 – August 1
Stump Sprouts, West Hawley, Massachusetts
Led by Patty Cuyler, Malkhaz Erkvanidze,
Luke Hoffman
Tuition: $1200
A dynamic combination of teachers and music and unabashed good humor is in store for this teen camp session.
Joining Village Harmony for the first time in the United States is Malkhaz Erkvanidze, founder and director of the reknowned Anchiskhati Ensemble of Tbilisi, Georgia. Malkhaz taught at last summer’s Caucasus Georgia camp and proved himself to be unflappable and amusing, as well as a fabulous teacher of west Georgian yodeling. Returning for his second summer is Luke Hoffman, a VH veteran also beloved for his amusing antics and hard-driving gospel quartet songs. And rounding out the program will be Village Harmony co-director Patty Cuyler, on the rebound from a trip to the Meditteranean and ready with a set of new songs from Corsica and South Africa, along with other goodies.
This session will rehearse and perform in western Massachusetts, then tour in New York, Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont.
Stump Sprouts Retreat Center
Situated in rural northwest Massachusetts, Stump Sprouts is a rustic, multi-season resort and retreat center. The center of the resort is our hand crafted guest lodge, converted dairy barn, and 200 year old farmhouse. The old dairy barn has been converted into a large multi-purpose space. In summer months, a unique moveable ceiling exposes the roof timbers thirty feet above the floor and two lofts, which are reached by a spiral staircase up through the old silo. The large windows allow for plenty of natural light. The floors are native hardwood and are great for dance. Surrounding the three buildings are several organic gardens which produce multitudes of flowers and vegetables for the kitchen. There is a wood-fired sauna and a solar shower a short distance from the lodge. A network of trails cover our 450 acres and are great for hiking and mountain biking.
Faculty
PATTY CUYLER of Marshfield, Vermont, is an energetic,
dynamic workshop leader and director with special expertise in teaching
Corsican, Georgian and South African singing and dance music. Her passion
for honest, direct music coaxes fierce, forthright singing out of even
the most timid singers. An instrumentalist from an early age, Patty is
a brass player and self-taught accordion player. Since 1995 she has co-directed Village
Harmony and Northern Harmony with Larry; in 2002 she founded
the women’s Corsican trio Eccuci, and began the Montpelier
World Music Chorus and Boston Harmony in 2004. Patty
has edited a number of song books of South African, Georgian and Bulgarian
folk music and has a large library of her own transcriptions. Patty
will be teaching South African dance-songs and Georgian and Corsican a
cappella singing at the Winter Workshop.
MALKHAZ ERKVANIDZE is the renowned choir director of the Anchiskhati
Church Choir, which has toured throughout Europe, Russia, and
North America. Since 1988, Anchiskhati has been at the forefront
of the revival of medieval polyphonic Georgian sacred music, with many
unique recordings and publications to their credit. Malkhaz is considered
the driving force behind this organization and recognized as the foremost
expert of Georgian sacred music.
Born in the central mountainous region of Imereti, Malkhaz grew up singing folk music in his family and with a local master-singer named Benia Mikadze. Graduating from the Tbilisi State Conservatory in 1988, Malkhaz formed Anchiskhati with several friends, and begun a lifelong passion to discover, research, and promote the forgotten tradition of three-part polyphonic church chant indigenous to the pre-Communist Eastern Orthodox Church in Georgia. Malkhaz is a deeply spiritual man, and has tirelessly promoted sacred music by training young chanters, editing and republishing chant books, and directing.
His unique background growing up in a family singing tradition allowed Malkhaz the opportunity to develop an ear for indigenous Caucasus tuning systems, and as a result, the Anchiskhati Choir is one of the few professional church choirs that attempts to sing in these 'old modes.'
Malkhaz teaches at the Tbilisi State Conservatory when he is not on tour with Anchiskhati, and is a consultant for several choirs including the up and coming Sakhioba Ensemble. In 2006, Malkhaz founded the first school dedicated primarily to the history and practical study of Georgian church singing since these schools, once widespread, were shut down by the Russian Church in the 1820s.
LUKE HOFFMAN is a Village Harmony and Northern Harmony
veteran. He has been studying drums and percussion for 14 years and his keen
sense of world rhythmic traditions make him a dynamic leader and teacher.
He is a strongbass whose vocal specialty is American Gospel. The newest member
of the VH faculty, his amicability and sometimes ridiculous sense of humor
will provide a light atmosphere for all. Luke is in his third year at Oberlin
College where he studies biology and plays varsity soccer. This is
his second year teaching at Village Harmony.